Estadio Teodoro Lolo Fernández – stadium description

The plan of building a brand new stadium for Club Universitario was born in 1989, soon after Ecuador's Barcelona inaugurated their new, magnificent stadium in Guayaquil. It's said to have been a motivating factor for what would have been Peru's largest stadium. Universitario “took no prisoners” in terms of scale, even though – looking back – the budget was rather modest.

Bulk of the auditorium is sunken up to 18 meters into the ground, on a single, spacious tier spreading over 50 rows. East and west sides were equipped with individual seats, while the north and south remain terraces, respectively for the home and travelling supporters. The west stand's narrow central section is the only open-air VIP area, located just above the tunnel leadin onto the field.

From a pedestrian's perspective this part of the stadium isn't visible, not just because the top row is on ground level. Actual reason is that the bowl is surrounded by a stunning number of private boxes, estimated at 1,250, spread across 6 levels. The west stand, standing proudly along Avenida Javier Prado, also holds necessary sporting and media facilities, as well as museum, restaurant and other amenities.

In front of the stand there is an impressive 'funnel', a spiral ramp leading 18 meters down, constituting the only way down to the playing field. On both its sides, symmetrically, there are parking spaces and training fields. In total, the stadium offers 2,500 parking spaces.

After official groundbreaking back in 1991, entirety of the plot was eventually acquired in 1994, while the entire stadium was opened in 2000, becoming the new home of the U. Interestingly, it's also the second home of Peru's national team with number of games lower only than at the national stadium. Because of its scale it's also Peru's largest concert venue. And with Brazil's most legendary stadia being converted to all-seating, Monumental is currently the largest stadium of South America.